Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Alexander I of Yugoslavia (16 December 1888-9 October 1934) was King of Yugoslavia from 16 August 1921 to 9 October 1934, succeeding Peter I of Serbia and preceding Peter II of Yugoslavia. He was assassinated by a Macedonian terrorist in 1934.

Biography
Alexander Karadordevic was born in Cetinje, Montenegro on 16 December 1888, the son of King Peter I of Serbia and Zorka of Montenegro. He was educated in Geneva and St. Petersburg, and he returned to Serbia in 1909. He distinguished himself during the Balkan Wars and became Prince Regent of Serbia in 1914 due to his father's declining health; he became King of Yugoslavia on his father's death in 1921. Alexander found it extremely difficult to balance the desires of the Serbs, Croats, and other minority peoples for autonomy with his own desire for a greater Serbia and the emphasis on Serbian predominance throughout the kingdom. On 6 January 1929, he established a royal dictatorship in response to domestic instability and ethnic conflict in the Parliament, dissolving the elected legislature and ruling as an absolute monarch. In 1932, he crushed an Ustase uprising in Croatia, and he told the Italian government that he would have to be shot and and killed in order for changes to occur in his country. He continued to promote Serb interests until his death in 1934.

Assassination
On 9 October 1934, King Alexander paid a visit to Marseille, France, meeting with Foreign Minister Louis Barthou. As they drove down the streets in a car, IMRO terrorist Vlado Chernozemski shot the king and the chauffeur with a semiautomatic pistol, and Barthou was also mortally wounded when a bullet severed an artery. Alexander's death was one of the first filmed assassinations, with a cameraman in the crowd witnessing the entire event up close. His funeral in Belgrade was attended by 500,000 people and many European statesmen. His cousin Prince Paul of Yugoslavia became the regent, as his son Peter II of Yugoslavia was still a minor.